/*
 * Copyright 2006-2018 The MZmine 2 Development Team
 * 
 * This file is part of MZmine 2.
 * 
 * MZmine 2 is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU
 * General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the
 * License, or (at your option) any later version.
 * 
 * MZmine 2 is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without
 * even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
 * General Public License for more details.
 * 
 * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with MZmine 2; if not,
 * write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301
 * USA
 */

package net.sf.mzmine.parameters;

import org.w3c.dom.Element;

import java.util.Collection;

/**
 * Parameter interface, represents parameters or variables used in the project
 */
public interface Parameter<ValueType> {

  /**
   * Returns this parameter's name. The name must be unique within one ParameterSet.
   * 
   * @return Parameter name
   */
  public String getName();

  public ValueType getValue();

  public void setValue(ValueType newValue);

  public boolean checkValue(Collection<String> errorMessages);

  public void loadValueFromXML(Element xmlElement);

  public void saveValueToXML(Element xmlElement);

  /**
   * We use isSensitive() to decide whether a parameter has to be encrypted (e.g. passwords).
   * Further, sensitive parameters are not written to project level configs
   */
  public default boolean isSensitive() {
    return false;
  }

  /**
   * We use cloneParameter() instead of clone() to force the implementing classes to implement this
   * method. Plain clone() is automatically implemented by the Object class.
   */
  public Parameter<ValueType> cloneParameter();

}
